This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with wireless communications circuitry.
Electronic devices often include wireless communications circuitry. For example, cellular telephones, computers, and other devices often contain antennas and wireless transceivers for supporting wireless communications.
It may be desirable to support wireless communications in millimeter wave communications bands. Millimeter wave communications, which are sometimes referred to as extremely high frequency (EHF) communications, involve communications at frequencies of about 10-400 GHz. Operation at these frequencies may support high bandwidths, but may raise significant challenges in ensuring satisfactory radio-frequency performance.
Wireless communications circuitry such as millimeter wave circuitry is tested in a test system to ensure adequate radio-frequency performance. In conventional test systems, radio-frequency testing is performed on the communications circuitry after the communications circuitry has been disposed within a fully-assembled electronic device. The millimeter wave communications circuitry is tested by transmitting millimeter wave signals from the fully-assembled electronic device to radio-frequency test equipment in the far field domain (i.e., several meters away from the device).
When performing testing in this manner using conventional test systems, it is difficult to pinpoint whether test failures are attributable to the millimeter wave circuitry or to other components in the electronic device. In addition, the electronic device needs to be disassembled to replace the millimeter wave communications circuitry when a test failure is detected, regardless of whether or not the millimeter wave communications circuitry actually caused the test failure. Disassembling electronic devices in this way can be difficult, time consuming, and cost prohibitive.
It would therefore be desirable to be able provide improved systems and methods for testing millimeter wave communications circuitry.